The way Ed Dunn remembers it, this tidbit of family lore goes like so: His son, Justin, was just a kid, maybe six years old, and the two walked into an arcade. The joker in the dunk tank heckled them and the ribbing got worse when Ed missed hitting the target to knock the man in the water on three different throws.

Justin wanted to try. But even at that age, he wasn't spared the needling. Didn't matter. "First try, bang, in the water," recalls Ed Dunn, laughing. "Second try, bang, in the water. Third try, bang, in the water.

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"He could always throw. The arm always worked well."

No wonder Justin Dunn ended up a pitcher. That wonderful right arm — plus considerable work through high school and college and plenty of help along the way — made that little kid into the Mets' top draft pick this year. After a standout career at Boston College, Justin Dunn was taken 19th overall by the Mets and the club hopes he's a big part of their future pitching staff.

The Mets and Dunn's representatives at The Legacy Agency are negotiating a contract and the pitcher seems eager to start his pro career. His college season ended earlier this month when BC lost in the NCAA Super Regionals, but the 6-2, 170-pound Freeport, L.I., native said in a recent interview he's been throwing bullpen sessions to stay sharp.

Dunn, 20, reckons he fell in love with baseball from infancy, when his father began rolling balls to him. "I wanted to play all the time," Dunn says. He joined competitive travel teams and got noticed by Jeff Trundy, the baseball coach at The Gunnery School, a prep school in Washington, Conn., at an eighth-grade showcase Dunn attended with the Boys Club of New York. His live arm helped him stand out, but so did something else.

"I was smaller than everyone," Dunn says. "Small is kind of an understatement. 5-5, a buck-10."

"He was tiny, but you really liked the things he did, the focus that he had," Trundy adds. "You just felt he was going to be good, but no one would have predicted the success he's had. Now who knows how far he's going to go? He's not anywhere near his potential yet."

Ed and Donna Dunn liked the idea of their going to The Gunnery, where most of the 285 students live in dorms, even if it took him away from Long Island. Ed Dunn had been alarmed when he attended a local high school football game and saw members of the police department's gang unit there. "I wanted to make a change," he said.

So Justin, still shy of his 14th birthday, went away to school. The beginning was rough, Justin admits. It wasn't easy for Ed, a grant administrator, or Donna, a recruiter for a health care company, either.

"I grew up a mature kid," Justin says, "but there was nothing that could prepare me for that mentally. It was a struggle."

Justin Dunn joins Steven Matz as another Long Island product in the Mets' organization. (Bruce Newman/AP)

There were teary phone calls home, but those soon stopped. "It got to the point where we didn't hear from him," Ed Dunn says. Trundy, who was also Dunn's faculty advisor, helped, and Dunn soon became a Gunnery ambassador of sorts, leading campus tours.

He also started to improve on the mound. His fastball velocity jumped to 92 mph by his senior year and the Dodgers took him in the 37th round of the 2013 draft. He was tempted to sign, even though he was still only 5-11 and 150 pounds.

"Growing up, I always told my parents, 'I'm going to play pro,'" Dunn says. "To get picked by the Dodgers, I thought, 'My dream is here.' My dad said, 'Are you ready to go to work? You'll have a boss. This isn't travel ball. If you're not ready for that grind...'"

Ultimately, Dunn chose to go to Boston College, where he found out there were plenty of lessons he still needed.

"I had a big head — 'I got drafted, there's no way these kids can be that good,'" Dunn recalls. But the first batter he faced in a fall intrasquad game was Chris Shaw, a slugger who was the 31st overall pick by the Giants in 2015. Someone had told Dunn not to throw Shaw a down-and-in fastball. So Dunn threw that pitch first.

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"Into the trees," Dunn recalls now. "He hit it five hundred feet ... I had a little learning to do."

"He was used to throwing it by guys and no one could do anything about it," says BC head coach Mike Gambino. "That pitch was about 93 (mph), but ACC hitters see that all the time."

Another "A-ha moment," as Gambino puts it, came for Dunn after his freshman year while playing in a summer league. As Dunn grew, he got more oomph on his fastball and one day he phoned Gambino, saying, "Last night I touched 96 for the first time."

"I said, 'Cool, how'd it go?'" Gambino recalls.

"Dude from Mississippi State hit it over the scoreboard," Dunn replied.

"There the lesson was finished, when he threw 96 and they could still do that," Gambino says. "He knew he had to pitch, not just throw."

Dunn started this past season as BC's closer, but Jim Foster, the BC pitching coach, determined during the year that the team needed him in the rotation, so Dunn switched to starting. In 18 games (eight starts), Dunn was 4-2 with a 2.06 ERA.

The Mets liked Dunn last summer in the Cape Cod League, but when he moved to starting, they got even more interested. So did other teams.

The draft was the day before he was supposed to pitch in the NCAA Super Regionals. He was in a restaurant in south Florida watching the draft on TV when the Mets called, adding another Long Island pitcher to a stable that also includes Steven Matz.

Dunn's family was there, so were the BC players and coaches. You may have seen the jubilant video that hit the web shortly thereafter.

"That was one of the coolest experiences," Dunn says. "No one thought we'd be there (as a team) and no one thought I'd be there (in the draft). To have my family there, my 34 brothers (teammates), it's awesome."

Here's another bit of family lore: Dunn grew up in the age of Derek Jeter, so he was a Yankee fan. So is his father. "I've never put on a Met hat in my life," Ed Dunn says. "But we'll take a look at it. We're very happy about the Mets. They're known to develop pitchers."

Dunn himself had never put one on, either. Until this week. The family went to a sports store and Dunn picked one up, tried it on and checked the mirror.